Labor mourns the loss of Ira Grupper
Labor mourns the July 23 death of longtime Louisville labor and civil rights activist Ira Grupper. A Celebration of Life service is set for Saturday, Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. at . First Unitarian Church, 809 S. Fourth Street, Louisville. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, PO Box 1543, Louisville, KY 40201.
TRIBUTES
Kirk Gillenwaters, president, Kentucky Alliance for Retired Americans: "The Ky. ARA honors and mourn the loss of our activist brother Ira Grupper. Ira stood in life to defend and support causes to better our society. He will be missed by all."
Ratterman's Funeral Homes: July 23, 2024, Ira Grupper, a proud troublemaker and ungovernable character, left this world to rile up the next one. He was a jokester, champion of ordinary folk, checkers and Scrabble enthusiast, and garlic bagel gourmand (cream cheese, lox, and tomato, required). Ira was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He dropped out of Brooklyn College to become a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and join the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta, Georgia and Hattiesburg and Columbia, Mississippi. Those were the proudest days of his life and began his sixty years of advocacy work for civil rights, disability rights, and labor rights.
Ira wore his legal blindness as a badge of determination. And he delighted in boasting about his big mouth, which he used in jaw-on-the-floor inappropriate situations. But also, to stand up for people facing injustice. He lived in Louisville, Kentucky and worked on the assembly line at the Philip Morris cigarette factory for decades, where he also served as a union shop steward. Ira spoke fluent Spanish, loved to travel, whistled and sang with abandon, and could recite dozens of poems he’d memorized. Self-taught and with experience as his degree, he spent part of his retirement teaching Civil Rights and Middle East Studies classes at Bellarmine University.
Ira is preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Selma, beloved daughter, Robin, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He is survived by his son, David, daughter, Sarah (Mark), son, Daniel, brother, Lewis (Maria), cousin, Larry, beautiful nieces, and other cherished family members and friends.
The world is more than a smidge quieter without Ira’s Donald Duck impression, indecorous language, and boisterous room entrances. We love you, Daddy. Wherever you are, we know you’re shaking up the leaves, standing at the ready to make “good trouble.”
Other memories of Ira
Ira Grupper - Kentucky Alliance Oral History Project - U of L Libraries at University of Louisville
Ira Grupper is a veteran of the civil rights movement in Georgia and Mississippi, and former staffer with SNCC, among other groups. His distinguished 1960s jail record spans both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. In addition to later decades of labor union organizing and disability rights advocacy, Mr. Grupper served from 1989-1993 as the National Co-Chair of the New Jewish Agenda, which had fifty chapters in the US and Canada and campaigned for a broad range of progressive issues. More recently, Mr. Grupper served as a Commissioner of the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission, and received the Louisville Mayor's Lifetime Achievement Award. A retired factory worker, and adjunct faculty member at Bellarmine University, he currently serves on the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, the KY Alliance against Racist & Political Repression, is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. He speaks to high school classes on the Civil Rights Movement.
Rest in peace our friend and brother. My you keep making good trouble.